You know who I'd like to see duel? Kaki King vs. Gabriela from Rodrigo y Gabriela. just a random thought.

Anyway, Sunday night, Kaki King closed out almost a year of touring. Though she was visibly tired, relieved and even teary-eyed at times, Kaki cathartically plucked, strummed, and beat her long-nailed fingers over her guitar...ferociously, yet seemingly effortlessly. In the first 5 minutes, she proved worthy of Rolling Stone's label of one of the 100 best guitar players of all time. Plus, with the help of her band, (a feirce bassist/guitarist, a fiercer drummer, a synth dude, and a guy who plays an quirky electronic valve instrument that looks like a bong), she cohesively melded punk rock, acoustic folk, and shoegaze throughout the set. (set list in pictures below)

How much is a Mountain Goats show worth? One chick in the front spent $500 to fly from Indiana just to see The Mountain Goats perform in NY this weekend (Saturday at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Sunday at Webster Hall) (not to mention accomodations and concert tickets)....pretty impressive. Anyway, Mountain Goats entered the stage to "December 63 (Oh What A Night)." In minutes, John Darnielle was full of sweat and energy, chatting with his usual easy banter, making his fans both clap, laugh and cry. Kaki came back on to play a few songs mid-set, first on guitar, and then on what looked like an electronic autoharp....To prove how close they had gotten during the tour, at the end of set, the whole Kaki crew came out and danced onstage alongside the goats......Hugged, cried - it was good (if emotional) night...

More pictures and a whole bunch of setlists below...

Kaki King...

Mountain Goats...

Mountain Goats @ Music Hall of Williamsburg - Nov 8 setlist

Have to Explode
Heretic Pride
Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into The Water, Triumph Of
Moon over Goldsboro
Quito
How To Embrace A Swamp Creature
The Recognition Scene
Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle
Black Pear Tree
Bring Our Curses Home
Mosquito Repellent
Suedehead (Morrissey)
Supergenesis
Sept 15 1983
No Children
This Year

Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod
Dance Music
The Mess Inside

Palmcoder Yajna

Mountain Goats @ Webster Hall - Nov 9 setlist

Have to Explode
Heretic Pride
The House That Dripped Blood
Moon Over Goldsboro
Slow West Vultures
New Zion
New Britain
It's All Here In Brownsville
Minnesota
Black Pear Tree
Bring Our Curses Home
Mosquito Repellent
Suedehead
Supergenesis
San Bernadino
Sept 15 1983
Game Shows Touch Our Lives
This Year

Houseguest
Going To Georgia
No Children

Palmcoder Yajna
The Sign (Ace of Base)
The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton

Comments (16)

hey,
i was "the chick that flew from Indiana." i just wanted to say this was a nice write-up, and good pictures, and thanks for not being a douchebag photographer like that other dude who was there, sticking his camera and his arms in my personal space.

also, for the record, i stayed with friends (you took pictures of them. my friends totally exist) so it wasn't *quite* $500.

In re: Suedehead, you can get the show from Portland on Archive and hear it for yourself. Decent recording, amazing performance.

John also tells how he hooked up with Kaki...he left a note on the dressing room wall at the Doug Fir in PDX 'cause he saw that she was playing in a couple weeks. Told her to get in touch, she did and that's how that happened.

totally nailed it peechez; twas a lapsteel guitar....tho truth told - Kaki can improv like crazy on a load of diff. instruments...(thumb piano, accordion, flugelhorn, and harp); check out her playing around with this stomp box: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaE4eenctMI ........it's all pretty brilliant...